After an extended absence from the squash blogging world, I am finally settled back into a normal routine and plan on posting again with some degree of regularity. Since my last post a few months ago, I have played several tournaments with some ups and downs, the net result being a jump in the PSA rankings to a new high of 202 this month. My most recent tournament was in the British Virgin Islands, a place not usually known for squash, but now home to former top-10 player Joe Kneipp and a $5000 PSA tournament. The conditions in BVI were extremely hot and humid, which essentially made the ball bounce like a blue-dot and led to some gruelling matches. I navigated a tricky opponent in the first round in four long games, and came up against top seed Adam Murrils in the quarters. I won the opener rather comfortably and stayed competitive until 5-all in the second before my legs were completely shot. It was a helpless feeling playing the remaining two and a half games with no explosiveness or stamina. This was a rare tournament where two rounds were played per day, and the big physical investment put into my first round match left me with few reserves for the quarters. Overall it was a good tournament, and I learned my lesson to be more efficient in the early rounds.
As mentioned, I played quite a few events before BVI but there are too many to discuss in one post and can all be summarized in a few words: too many tournaments in a row, too much time away from training, and a lot of negativity. I am quite happily passed that now, and have been into the grind of summer training since late May (the BVI tournament was an exception to this otherwise uninterrupted training period). This has been my first ever true summer of training, and the NSA is abuzz everyday with at least five pros and several juniors religiously showing up for the two/three sessions a day. We have been training in the gym with Bob Bowers (former trainer to Power, Ryding, Razik et al.) and after one month are all having tangible improvements. The next tournament for me and most of the other Canadian guys will be the NSA Open starting August 13th. This is obviously our home tournament and was a great success last year. We will all be buzzing to get on court for some real matches and see where we are at after a few months of hard work. It will also be a nice change for me to have a 5 minute bike ride into a tournament venue instead of the usual 5 hour flight!
All for now, and I will be back into regular posting for the rest of the summer.
